What’s Ahead This Week for Road Work on Atherton Street

As work continues on the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s multi-year Atherton Street project in State College, here’s what motorists and pedestrians can expect for the week of May 22:

• The closure of both eastbound lanes of Atherton Street between College and Beaver avenues remains in place. Eastbound traffic is diverted at College Avenue and uses the Atherton Street downtown detour: North Atherton Street to West College Avenue to South Buckhout Street to West Beaver Avenue to South Atherton Street. The eastbound closure and detour will be in place until early July for crews to install new drainage, according to PennDOT. One lane of westbound Atherton Street will remain open through the duration of this work. Access to The Graduate State College hotel is from the westbound lane. 

• A pedestrian detour remains in place and PennDOT reminds people to avoid walking through construction zones.

• Two crews will be working on a new main waterline and services on South Atherton Street from West Foster Avenue to Hill Alley. An alternating traffic pattern will be enforced by roadway flaggers.

• One crew will be working on South Atherton Street from College Avenue to Beaver Avenue on new drainage pipes. Another crew will be working on North Atherton Street from Clay Lane to West College Avenue on inlet tops and installation of concrete curbs and sidewalk.

• Two crews are scheduled to work Friday and possibly Saturday.

• No work is expected to take place Monday for Memorial Day.

• The left lane of West Beaver Avenue remains closed from H Alley to Atherton Street through early July.

Work on the current, $30.7 million phase of the Atherton Street project began in 2022 and is expected to conclude in the fall of 2024. The project zone stretches from Curtin Avenue to just past Westerly Parkway, and overall work includes roadway reconstruction, drainage improvements, water and sewer lines, concrete curbing, sidewalks and detectable warning surfaces, pavement markings and traffic signals and supports.

HRI, Inc. of State College is the contractor on the job.